Streams

New Stadiums for Mets and Yankees Closer to Reality

Wednesday, April 26, 2006

The new Mets and Yankees Stadiums will move into scoring position today. WNYC's Dan Blumberg reports on several votes coming up.

By agreeing to a package of community benefits, the Mets have appeased the City Council's Queens delegation. The Mets agreed to award at least 25% of it construction contracts to Queens firms and 25% to minority or women-owned businesses.

The Bloomberg administration has agreed to reconstruct Flushing's Roosevelt Avenue bridge and work to reduce game-day traffic. The Yankees also agreed to a community benefits agreement for the Bronx and the financing for both stadiums will be voted on by the city council today. Both deals have been criticized because the teams would get tax breaks, though the Yankees deal has been far more contentious because of plans to takeover parkland.

Meanwhile, the MTA will vote on another key part of the Yankees plan - building a $40 million Metro North station near the stadium.

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Dan joined the station in 2004 as producer of WNYC’s All Things Considered and later moved on to Morning Edition. He works closely with the show’s host to keep the content interesting and fresh. He also handles breaking news, such as the transit strike, and reports on a variety of stories, ranging from the court battle over same sex marriage to the efforts to bring a NASCAR race track to Staten Island.

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